Welt attaching machines



Nov. 20, 1962 L. G. MILLER WELT ATTACHING MACHINES s Sheet s-Shee FiledJune 7, 1961 Inven to r I ZoyciGM'Zler' B5, his Azzorney Nov. 20, 19621.. e. MILLER WELT ATTACHING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 7,1961 ll i J Nov. 20, 1962 L. (.3. MILLER WELT ATTACHING MACHINES 3Sheets- Sheet 3 Filed June 7, 1961 United States harem 3,064,595Patented NOV. 20, 1962 free 3,064,595 WELT ATTACHING MACHINES Lloyd G.Miller, Beverly, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation,Flemington, NJ, a corporation of New Jersey Filed June 7, 1961, Ser. No.115,410 6 Claims. (Cl. 112-46) This invention relates generally to amaclnne for attaching welts to lasted shoe uppers and sole members andhas particular reference to a machine having novel means for actuatingthe welt severing knife at or near the completion of an attachingoperation.

The invention is illustrated herein as being applied to a Goodyear Weltand Seam Sewing Machine and in certain respects is similar to thatdisclosed in United States Letters Patents Nos. 1,971,575 granted August28, 1934, and 2,041,945 granted May 26, 1936, both on applications ofAlfred R. Morrill, and in certain respects embodies an improvement overthe Automatic Welt Severing Mechanism disclosed in United States LettersPatent No. 2,900,933, issued August 25, 1959, to J. P. Carter. Thesepatents and United States Letters Patent No. 1,774,- 498, issuedSeptember 2, 1930 to Fred Ashworth et al., should be referred to for adescription of certain parts of the machine which are associated withthe mechanism embodying the invention to be described hereinafter.

In the machine of the above-identified Carter patent, the welt severingknife is actuated, in the case of a shoe of the so-called sewed seattype, in which the welt is attached about the entire periphery of theshoe, by a feeler positioned mechanically to trip a latch mechanism asthe attaching operation nears completion.

The machine above described ha certain disadvantages in that the feeleris intended to be actuated by engagement with the leading end of thewelt first attached to the shoe. However, due to the irregular outlineof the shoe, the feeler is occasionally inadvertently contacted duringthe attaching operation by some other part of the shoe, therebyactuating the Welt cut-off mechanism prematurely which results in adefective shoe. Although in the above-identified Carter patent, means isprovided for the operator to arm the feeler and latch mechanism justbefore the termination of the attaching operation, nevertheless, in somecase, the operator arms the feeler and latch mechanism sooner thannecessary and then accidentally trips the feeler during the subsequentportion of the attaching operation, or in other cases may forget to armthe feeler and latch mechanism, so that the welt is not cut at theproper time, and the machine continues to attach a second layer of Weltover the leading end of the welt first attached to the shoe. An operatorof such a machine must have considerable training to become skillful inits proper operation, frequently at a cost of a high percentage ofdefective shoes while acquiring such skill.

The object of this invention is to provide a machine of the typedescribed in which means is provided for actuating the welt cut-offmechanism in response to engagement of a feeler with the leading end ofthe welt first attached to the shoe and in which the feeler is incapableof being actuated by any other portion of the shoe except said end ofthe welt.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of the typedescribed in which means is provided for applying an actuating medium tothe leading end of the Welt first attached to the shoe and providingmeans responsive only to said actuating medium for energizing the weltcut-off mechanism.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine of the typedescribed in which means is provided for rendering conductive theleading end of the Welt first attached to the shoe and providing meansresponsive to said conductivity for actuating the welt cut-offmechanism.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent to one skilled in theart from the following description of a specific embodiment thereof.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a front plan view of the operating head of a welt attachingmachine embodying the features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view in front plan partly in section of a portionof the machine of FIG. 1, showing means for applying conductive materialto the leading end of the welt;

FIG. 3 is a view in section taken on line IIIIII of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view in section taken on line IV-IV of FIG. 1;

'FIG. 5 is a view in front elevation of a portion of the machine of FIG.1, illustrating the position of a partially fabricated shoe to which awelt is being attached as the attaching operation nears completion.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of FIG. 5, with a portion of the mechanismomitted for clarity;

FIG. 7 is a view in section taken on the line VIIVII of FIG. 5, and

FIG. 8 is a schematic representation of the certain portions of themechanism and their associated electrical circuits.

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated a welt attaching machine10 which is adapted to attach a welt 12 to the periphery of a partiallyfabricated shoe 14.

The machine 10 comprises an operating head 16 supported on a pedestal 13with an operator controlled foot treadle 20 for actuating the machinestarting mechanism to be described hereinafter. The operating head 16 issimilar to that described in the above-identified patents and has theusual welt attaching mechanism comprising stitch forming mechanism 22,welt feeding mechanism 24 and welt guiding devices 26 a welt severingknife 28 and a solenoid L1 for actuating the knife, said solenoid beingenergized in a manner to appear hereinafter. As further described in theabove-identified patents, the operation of the Welt attaching mechanismof the machine is con trolled by a lock bolt 30 adapted to move into andout of engagement with an oscillating lever 32 which controls a clutchmechanism (not shown).

The foot treadle 20 actuates the lock bolt 30 through a suitable linkage34, which includes an operating rod 36, in such manner that downwardmotion of the treadle causes upward movement of the operating rod 36,moving the lock bolt 30 out of engagement with the lever 32 to start theoperation of the machine. When the treadle is released, the resultingdownward movement of the operating rod moves the lock bolt back intoengagement with the lever 32, stopping the machine.

To provide an auxiliary machine stopping means responsive to theactuation of the welt cut-off knife, in a manner to appear hereinafter,a toggle 38 is interposed erating rod 36 downwardly and thereby stop themachine without the necessity of releasing the treadle.

Energization of machine stop solenoid L2 may conveniently beaccomplished by providing a cam 44 (shown schematically in FIG. 8-) onthe knife so that on a cutting stroke of the knife, the cam 44 closesmomentarily a switch S1, thereby energizing relay R1. The energizationof relay R1 closes a first pair of contacts C1 and C2, which complete aholding circuit to relay R1, and also closes a second pair of contactsC3 and C4, which complete a circuit to timing relay TR2 After apredetermined time, as will be described hereinafter, the contacts C5and C6 of timing relay TR2 close, thereby energizing the machinestopping solenoid L2.

The knife actuating solenoid L1 is energized when switch S2 is closed bya relay R3 which is energized by an amplifying control device A1, suchas a thryratron switch, high impedance relay, or the like, which isactuated in the following manner.

Actuating leads 46 from the control device A1 are connected to feelercontacts 48 and 50 mounted in a support block 52 which is secured to themachine frame above and to the right of the welt-cut-ofi position. Thecontacts 48 and '50 are insulated from each other and extend from thesupport block generally downwardly to terminate in flexible ends whichare positioned ahead of the welt attaching position in the path ofmovement of the leading end of the welt first attached to the shoe tocause the flexible ends to contact said end of the welt as the attachingoperation nears completion. To cause such engagement of the contactswith the end of the Welt to actuate the control device A1 and,consequently, the welt cut-off knife 28, a conductive material may besupplied to the welt in a manner now to be described.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4 of the drawings, there is illustratedapparatus for applying automatically a conductive material to theleading end of the welt. The conductive material may be an electrolyte,such asa salt solution, a dispersion of conductive particles, such as agraphite, in a liquid, or provided the control device A1 issuflicientlysensitive, may be ordinary tap Water. The apparatus comprises generallya reservoir 54, a rotary valve 56, connected to the reservoir by aconduit 58 and a dispenser nozzle 60 extending from the valve toterminate in a discharge aperture 62 which is immediately adjacent theknife when said knife is in the extended or cutting position andimmediately above the position at which the welt is cut. The valve 56contains an internal channel 64 and is rotatable about a center axis 66.Spring means 68 is provided to bias the valve into the normally closedposition, as shown in FIG. 1. In the herein disclosed embodiment of theinvention, at the termination of an attaching operation the dispensingmechanism is actuated to apply conductive material to the leading end ofthe welt remaining in the welt guide which will be the first portion ofthe welt attached to the next shoe presented to the machine, To actuatethe dispensing mechanism automatically, a cam 70 is provided on thecut-off knife for cooperation with an operating arm 72 on the valve sothat when the cutting knife is actuated to sever the welt at the end ofan attaching operation the-cam 70 on the knife engages the operating arm72 of the valve and momentarily rotates the valve counterclockwise sothat the valve channel 64 is alined with the conduit 58 and thedischarge nozzle 60 thereby permitting a small amount of conductivefluid (which is already present in the valve conduit from the previousoperation) to flow into the discharge nozzle. The knife retracts and thevalve closes almost immediately after the cutting stroke, and thereafterthe conductive material in the discharge tube flows or drips out of thedischarge end onto the recently cut end of the welt projecting from thewelt guide. Hence, on the next attaching cycle of the machine theengagement of the feelers with the leading end of the Welt will resultin an electric circuit being completed therebetween through theconductive material on the end of the welt to cause the control deviceA1 to energize the relay R3 and actuate the welt cut-off knife aspreviously described.

As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, when the welt is cut, the trailing endof the welt between the attaching mechanism and the cut-oif mechanism isnot yet attached to the shoe. Hence timing relay TR2, which is actuatedby the cut-ofi knife, is provided With a delay time sufficient to permitthe machine to continue operating long enough after the welt is cut toattach said trailing end of the welt and make about two stitches acrossthe welt joint into the leading end of the welt. Thereafter, the timingrelay TRZ closes, actuating the machine stopping solenoid 22. Duringthis latter portion of the attaching operation, as the shoe movesthrough the attaching mechanism, the feelers flex upwardly on the end ofthe leading end of the Welt and ride along the upper surface thereof.

Although in the illustrated embodiment of the invention the mechanismfor applying the conductive material to the welt is actuatedautomatically by the cut-off knife, it will be understood that otheractuating means may be used if desired.

Since certain other obvious changes may be made in the illustratedembodiment without departing from the scope of the invention, it isintended that all matter contained herein be interpreted in anillustrated and not a limited sense.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A machine for attaching a strip of material'to an article, comprisingmeans for applying a conductive material to the leading end of thestrip, attaching means, feeler means disposed in the path of travel ofsaid leading end of the strip and means responsive to contact of saidfeeler means with said conductive material to terminate the operation ofsaid attaching means.

2. A machine for attaching a strip of material to an article, comprisingmeans for applying a conductive material to a portion of the strip to benext attached, attaching means, strip cutting means, means responsive to,contact with said conductive material for actuating the strip cuttingmeans, and means responsive to the ac tuation of said strip cuttingmeans for actuating the means for applying the conductive material tothe portion of the strip to be next attached.

3. A machine for attaching a strip of material to an article, comprisingmeans for applying a conductive material to the leading end of thestrip, attaching means, strip cutting means, feeler means disposed inthe path of travel of said leading end of the strip, and meansresponsive to contact of said feeler means with said conductive materialto actuate the strip cutting means.

4. A machine for attaching a welt to a peripheral portion of a partiallyfabricated shoe comprising attaching means, strip cutting means, meansresponsive to the contact with a conductive material previously appliedto the leading end of the welt for actuating the strip cutting means andmeans responsive to the actuation of said strip cutting means forapplying a conductive material to the leading end of the next portion ofthe welt to be attached.

5. A machine for attaching a welt to a peripheral portion of a partiallyfabricated shoe comprising Welt attaching means, means for applying aconductive material to the leading end of the portion of the welt to benext attached, welt cutting means, means responsive to contact with saidconductive material for attaching the welt cutting means, and meansresponsive to the actuation of the Welt cutting means for actuating themeans for applying the conductive material to the leading end of theportion of the welt to be next attached.

6. In a machine for attaching a welt to a partially fabricated shoe,comprising attaching means, operatorcontrolled starting and stoppingmeans, auxiliary stopping means, a welt cutter, and means responsive tothe operation or said welt cutter for actuating said auxiliary stoppingmeans, the improvement comprising means re- 10 means responsive tocontact with said conductive material near the termination of anattaching operation for actuating the welt cutter.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,592,115 Lindgren July 13, 1926 2,908,237 Winberg Oct. 13, 1959 FOREIGNPATENTS 1,170,842 France Nov. 30, 1959 (Addition to 72,760)

